Sally Wentworth - Conflict In Paradise

by Sally Wentworth

  'It's over there, on the cabinet.' But he didn't attempt to get it. He merely leaned his shoulders against the door jamb and waited, as if prepared to settle there for the night.

  Tansy turned her back on him while she finished the bed, then she straightened and moved purposefully towards the door. 'Please let me pass, Major Aston.'

  His voice soft, he said, 'Don't run away. Let me look at you.' Then, 'You know, I was wrong.'

  Finely arched brows raised, Tansy lifted her eyes to look into his. 'You? Wrong? I had thought that to be an impossibility,' she mocked him.

  'Not in this case,' he answered with an appreciative gleam in his eyes. 'Because you're far more of a temptation now than you ever were in that sarong!' Then he had moved aside and she was free to pass.

  Music was in the air as she neared the village. Someone put a flaming torch into her hand and drew her towards the cleared space where the islanders had formed two long lines facing inwards that stretched from in front of the meeting house almost to the edge of the jungle. Everyone held a lamp or flambeau of some sort and swayed to the rhythm of the drums energetically played by the musicians. There were European faces among the brown ones and Tansy wondered if Ruari had checked on how many soldiers were at the feast. Further along the line she saw John sitting in his chair, a swaying lamp in his hands, and the Major had been pulled into the line almost opposite. She smiled; the enemy was engaged—let battle commence!

  Almost on the thought there came the sound of singing on the breeze and out from the jungle came twenty or so young men and girls, the men in pareus, the traditional native loincloths, with crowns of plaited pandanus leaves on their heads, and the girls in sarongs with garlands of white and yellow flowers round their necks and wrists and in their hair. They sang as they danced slowly and gracefully forward, triumphal songs and love songs that had been sung for hundreds of years—Teki, the natives called them. And among the dancers, looking lovelier than all the rest, was Lait, her undulating body swathed in a pale pink sarong that revealed the swell of her breasts.

  When all the dancers had entered the clearing of coral sand, the two lines of spectators closed up to form a ring of light around them. The five men of the band with their drums made from hollowed-out branches of hard Tou wood, began to beat faster. Swaying and twisting to the pulsating music, the dances became livelier and wilder. The watching ring of onlookers clapped and sang, their torches bobbing to the rhythm. Faster and yet faster the dancers whirled as the drums throbbed their beat out into the night. Shadows leapt and danced among the palm trunks in the flickering, shifting light, as though they had been ghosts and spirits from a past age, wakened to life by the primitive, exciting music.

  One by one the dancers dropped to the ground exhausted, until only Lait continued to spin and writhe to the now frenzied beat of the drums. Her long black hair one moment almost touched the ground as she leant backwards, the next was whirling round her head in a black cloud as she gyrated over the sand. Suddenly she raised her arms up high, spun madly for a few turns and then threw herself to the ground just as the drums ceased on a crescendo of sound, her outstretched arms pointing straight in Blake's direction. The long-drawn-out sighs from a hundred throats filled the sudden silence, but then the villagers smiled and nodded at Blake as he was urged forward to help Lait to her feet.

  And he wasn't at all backward in doing so, either, Tansy noted wryly. Lait, being exhausted, had to cling to him as he solicitously helped her to sit down on one of the pandanus mats that had been spread ready for the feast. Somewhere in the background someone began to strum a guitar and the islanders laughingly took their places on the mats or went off to bring on the food. Tansy saw that John was already being taken care of by a smiling, dark-eyed girl who had been one of the dancers, so she walked casually round the edge of the circle to where Tupuhoe and Ruari sat just below the meeting house. She smiled exultantly when she reached them; all but two of the soldiers were at the feast, one of the absentees being the man who had attacked her.

  The two men smiled back at her, guessing her thoughts, and Tupuhoe politely cut off a large piece of the whole pig that was in front of him and passed it to her, his eyes twinkling with merriment.

  'You look very European tonight,' Ruari remarked as he helped himself to roast karava fish and breadfruit. 'Why aren't you wearing your sarong like the other women?'

  'Perhaps because I am a European,' Tansy replied gently.

  Ruari stopped what he was doing and turned to look into her eyes. 'Ah, yes, I tend to forget that.'

  'I know. So do I.' Then Tansy smiled at him. 'But I'm glad you do.'

  He smiled back, rather wryly, but Tansy turned as she felt someone watching her. But whoever it was must have looked quickly away, for she had no one's attention now. John was busily taking photos from his chair and Blake and the other soldiers were intent on the food in front of them and the native girls at their sides, although Tansy noticed that most of them held coconut cups of the special 'cocktail' in their hands.

  Older men and women gradually began to get to their feet whenever they felt like it and would perform ancient dances or would sing. Half a dozen men chanted an old, old war song, performing the actions of paddling the long since gone war canoes and waving spear and knife, while others murmured in unison in the background and the drums beat softly, hardly louder than the white breakers that washed upon the nearby shore. Tansy felt a gentle touch on her arm and knew that Ruari was slipping away to the prison. Already the guards had been taken food and plenty of drink by two village girls, and they hoped that by the time Ruari and the young men he had chosen to help him got there, the guards would hardly be in a state to offer any resistance.

  The drums began to beat faster again as the war dance reached its climax and Tansy felt her heart beating as fast as the music. Would they be successful? Would they? Others got up to dance, some of the girls pulling the soldiers up to join in. They were embarrassed at first, moving sheepishly, but as the beat got to them they soon lost their inhibitions and kept time with the throbbing music. A space cleared momentarily and Tansy was able to look across the circle to find Blake staring at her, the flickering light giving him a fierce, devilish look. For a moment their glances locked, then the dancers closed together again and when Tansy next saw him he had his arm round Lait and was taking the flower from her hair to put in his buttonhole.

  It seemed a very long time, but in fact was less than an hour, before Ruari slipped quietly back into his place beside her, and there was no need for Tansy to ask the eager questions that trembled on her lips—the triumphant look in his eyes told her all she wanted to know!

  There were one or two gaps on the mats now as the heady music and wine led the younger people to steal off in couples into the scented privacy of the jungle, some of the soldiers among them. Another young private collapsed in a heap and Tansy saw Blake get to his feet and walk over to him. Apparently satisfied that he was only sleeping, he straightened up as Lait came to stand close beside him. She smiled at him enticingly and took the flower from his buttonhole to place it in the top of her sarong, in the deep V formed by the curve of her breasts. Blake smiled lazily down at her and allowed Lait to lead him into the darkness of the jungle.

  Tansy stood up abruptly. 'I have to see to my patient.'

  Ruari looked at her in some astonishment. 'Don't you want to hear how we got on?'

  'Oh! Oh, yes, of course.' For the moment Tansy had forgotten the purpose of this entire exercise.

  Almost reluctantly she sat down again and listened with only half an ear as Ruari described his exploits. 'The two sentries weren't even on guard,' he told her jubilantly. 'The girls had persuaded them to go down to the river to swim, so we were able to sneak in and down to the cellars. There were ten boxes of explosives; we broke them open and packed the dynamite into old beer kegs and then replaced the boxes so that the locks didn't show. Then we did the same with the detonators. With any luck no one will notice they're empty until
they go to use them,' he chuckled. 'After we'd got the explosives we crept out without being seen and I left the other men to load up your pony cart. They should be on their way to the mountain now, but I thought I'd better come back in case the Major noticed I was missing.' He waited for Tansy to say something, but when she didn't he added impatiently, 'Well, what do you think? Aren't you pleased with what we've done?'

  'Yes, more than pleased. It's all worked out beautifully, far better than I'd dared to hope. But what about the bulldozer? Weren't you able to do anything to that?'

  For answer, Ruari grinned broadly and opened his hand to show her an oily piece of complicatedly shaped metal with holes either end. To Tansy it looked just like a piece of scrap, but Ruari assured her that the bulldozer couldn't possibly go without it.

  Tupuhoe leaned across and took it from Ruari's hands. 'If the machine is useless without this then it must be worth much money. I will thread it on some twine and wear it as a necklace.' Then he laughed deep in his throat and Ruari and Tansy joined in his merriment.

  But, although Tansy joined in the laughter and exultant murmurs that rose from the other islanders as they learnt the good news, she couldn't help staring across at the heavily scented jungle. It would serve Blake right, she thought malevolently. He was an arrogant, impossible man whom she loathed, and she couldn't care less if he was demoted, or whatever happened as a punishment in the army. So why did she have this terribly empty kind of feeling whenever she thought of the way he had smiled down at Lait through heavy-lidded eyes, and the way he had put his arm so familiarly round the girl's waist as they had entered the jungle? She hadn't really expected anything else of him, had she? He was just a boorish soldier, no different from the others. He had proved that by the way he had kissed her on the beach. But there was a lost, wistful look in Tansy's eyes as she again remembered that kiss, a kiss that had left her with the distinct impression that he had meant every breathtaking second of it.

  One of her native rowers was trying to catch her attention and she looked at him rather dazedly. 'Yes, Teiho, what is it?'

  'The young officer. He's ready to go back now.'

  Hastily Tansy hurried over to where John lolled in his chair, half asleep. Guiltily she felt his pulse, but he opened his eyes and smiled at her. 'I think the party's over, don't you?'

  Tansy laughingly agreed with him, walking along beside his chair and waiting until the natives had helped him to undress and get into bed before making her own way slowly back to the house. Of Inara there was no sign, and Tansy was pretty certain that she would see nothing more of her intended chaperone that night. The pony was back in his stable and Tansy checked to see that the trap showed no signs of the illicit use to which it had been put before going to her room. Crossing to the window, she looked out across the bay, but somehow the beauty of the night failed to give her the peace and tranquillity which usually entered her heart whenever she saw it. Instead she was filled with desolation, her mind tormented by a wretchedness worse than she had ever known.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Slowly Tansy came to wakefulness the next morning to the dim realisation that there must be a heavy thunderstorm outside, for she could hear loud noises in the distance. Her head felt thick and heavy as she rather dazedly opened her eyes and saw that it was bright daylight. It had been almost dawn before she had at last got to sleep, and she moaned when she saw that it was still only seven o'clock. Gradually it penetrated her mind that if the sun was shining there couldn't be a thunderstorm, that the bangs she could hear must be someone knocking at the door. Pulling on a turquoise bathrobe over her short nightie, her hair gloriously tousled, she groped her way downstairs, her head aching abominably from her sleepless night and the toddy she had drunk at the feast.

  'All right, all right, I'm coming!' she called as she struggled to pull open the heavy old oak door.

  The last few inches came open with a rush as a burly arm pushed it back. Tansy found herself staring at Blake, but she had only time to note the ferocious look on his face before he had swept her back into the living room.

  'All right, where is it?' he demanded with scarcely controlled rage.

  'Oh, it's you.' Tansy wandered over to the settee and curled up on the cushions, too tired to be intimidated. 'You wouldn't like to make me some coffee, would you? I have a headache.'

  'No, I would not like to make you coffee,' he almost snarled. 'Now where is it?' He had come to stand menacingly over her, holding his swagger-stick in white- knuckled fists, very much as if he would have liked to use it.

  'You know something?' Tansy said as she leant her head back to look up at him towering over her. 'You really should learn to control yourself more, Major. You're supposed to be in charge of all those men and yet you…' She broke off abruptly as Blake caught hold of her arms, pulled her round into a sitting position, and shook her vigorously until her teeth rattled.

  'Wake up, Tansy. Wake up!'

  He let her go and Tansy stared at him, now fully awake as she realised belatedly why he had come. So he had missed the dynamite already. She wondered if he had been out all night and had just got back to the prison, but his shirt and shorts were clean and pressed and he looked fresh and rested. Which was more than what she felt, she thought resentfully. Irritably she got to her feet and pushed him aside.

  'Where do you think you're going?' He caught her arm again.

  'To the bathroom,' Tansy said with some dignity. 'I told you, I have a headache and I want to take an aspirin.'

  Blake looked at her for a minute, his eyes narrowed, then let her go. 'All right, but hurry up—and don't try anything.'

  Tansy glared at him and deliberately took her time as she dressed, brushing her hair back from her head and fastening it in place at her nape with a clip. When she came down again Blake called out from the kitchen and she went reluctantly to join him. He had made two steaming mugs of coffee and pushed one towards her before sitting down at the pine table.

  'You make "very free of my home, Major,' she said sarcastically.

  'You asked me to make it, remember?' He looked at her clean, unmade-up face and remarked, 'You look about sixteen years old.'

  Tansy's eyelids flew up and then were quickly lowered as she concentrated on the hot, reviving coffee.

  'And you act like a sixteen-year-old,' he added caustically. 'I bet it was your idea to sabotage the bulldozer. Well, I want the part back, Tansy, and I mean to get it, make no mistake about that.'

  Quickly Tansy looked away, afraid that he might see the gleam in her eyes as she realised that he hadn't yet discovered the loss of the explosives. Well, he wouldn't find the part here, and she was going to enjoy revelling in his discomfiture. 'I don't remember ever giving you permission to use my christian name,' she said coldly.

  'I don't need permission. I can do anything I want on this island—that goes for you as well as the natives. Do you want me to send my men to search this house and every other house in the village? I can, you know. My orders give me carte blanche over Aparoa—and its inhabitants.'

  Tansy looked at him scornfully. 'Really, Major, all this fuss over a missing engine part! One of your men probably lost it and was too scared to own up. I bet they're all afraid of you and your vicious temper,' she goaded.

  His lips tightened for a moment. 'How did you know it was a part of the engine? I didn't say it was.'

  'What? Well, it would have to be a part of the engine, wouldn't it? Otherwise I would have heard it. The darn thing makes so much noise that the whole of Aparoa can hear it,' she countered.

  Rising to his feet, Blake picked up his beret and put it on.

  'What, leaving so soon, Major? But you haven't finished your coffee,' she said with spurious regret

  'Wherever the part is, it isn't here—you're too damn sure of yourself for that. I shall just have to try elsewhere, won't I? Perhaps I'll try your boy-friend next,' he suggested, watching her closely.

  But Tansy had expected that one and ignored it complet
ely. 'Did you enjoy the feast, Major?' she asked sweetly. 'You seemed to be having quite a good time. I hope that Lait—er—looked after you satisfactorily?'

  He had walked towards the door and opened it before he turned back to answer her. 'Yes, thank you, Dr Harland. She looked after me very well—in fact I can't think of a time when I've been more—completely satisfied!' And then he was gone.

  Going down to the clinic later, Tansy tried not to think of what Blake might be doing in the village. She heard the sound of the jeep's engine and wished she had thought of getting Ruari to sabotage that too. Would Tupuhoe have hidden the part in a safe place? It was most unlikely that Blake would ever find it short of tearing Tupuhoe's house apart, and even then the headman might have hidden it outside the house. Her spirits revived as the morning wore on and her patients brought her the latest news; Blake had put a guard outside Tupuhoe's house and prevented anyone from going in; ten of the soldiers were searching the island for Ruari, another two had taken over the blacksmith's lean- to and were trying to forge a new part. Tansy smiled to herself; Tupuhoe had probably switched off his hearing- aid and Ruari had departed the island by canoe at first light—as the only one who knew anything about engines he was the obvious suspect and better out of the way. And as for the engine part—Tansy chuckled as she remembered its intricacies—it would take them days to get it right, if they managed it at all.

  It was nearly noon before the last patient had gone and Tansy was beginning to long for lunch and a rest before going on her rounds. She slipped off her white coat at last and hurried out of the clinic. Blake was leaning against a tree trunk a few yards away, his arms folded, patiently waiting for her as if nothing was wrong, as if his whole career wasn't in jeopardy.

  'Why, Major Aston, what a surprise! Have you solved the mystery of the disappearing engine part?' she taunted him.

  'Not yet, but I expect to at any moment,' he replied equably, falling into step beside her. 'Where's your boyfriend?'